US preacher that threatened to burn Qur’an may be banned from entering UK

The American preacher who caused a firestorm of controversy by planning a mass burning of the Qu'ran for the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks may be banned from entering the UK.

Pentecostal preacher Terry Jones is set to address the far-right English Defence League (EDL) in Luton for February 2011, yet UK Home Secretary Theresa May may ban his visit under incitement and national security laws.

A statement on Jones's website reads: " Dr Terry Jones will speak against the evils and destructiveness of Islam in support of the continued fight against the Islamification of England and Europe." Theresa May has said, however, that she has been "actively looking" at the preacher's case for some time and may intervene.

Jones's 'International burn-a-Qur'an day' was originally planned on September 11 and caused widespread alarm as he issued a two-hour deadline, to imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a figurehead in the controversial proposal to build an Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 attacks.

Only through Barack Obama's personal intervention did the preacher eventually back down, having been covinced that his actions would provoke the Muslim world and endanger the lives of US soldiers.